Time is Fleeting
May. 5th, 2016 10:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puppetmakerToday AJ is a week old. He went in for his first wellness visit yesterday and is doing fine. He did not like having his clothes off and being poked and let everyone know it.
A week ago I held AJ in my arms less than an hour after he came into the world. It seems so recently and yet so much in the past.
A freelance editor I know was at my local brew-pub. He had just finished a very long medical manuscript for a magazine and was getting ready to start work on the next one while trying to find work for the one after that. He specializes in non-fiction mostly of the biological kind. He has a PhD in biochemistry but fell into being an editor and enjoyed that more than fighting for grants for research. He can find work because he does such good work and is really fast.
He was bemoaning that he should have gotten this paper in three days ago but life took over and he had to deal with sick children and dog who is very old but still spry. He doesn’t mind it. He loves how he can be there for his family and watch his children grow up. However, he is getting frustrated with everyone assuming because he is a freelancer, he has lots of free time to do other things that are not his job. Apparently his brother-in-law wanted him to help with some project for his mother-in-law and there was a family kerfuffle when he said no because he had to get the article done.
The assumption that freelancers have time to do things that are not work is one that I have found to be pretty ingrained.
“Oh you can do your job anywhere!”
Not really. Peter’s word count is lower when he is not at home because there are a lot of things that, when he is at home, are non-issues. Yes, there are times that he goes to a convention and gets work done around the convention but that is not the norm. Especially if he is on a deadline to an editor. Also he needs an Internet connection that works and doesn’t cost him an arm and a leg.
“It will just take an hour or two.”
And travel time and whatever else I need to do to get the project done. Those words are the deadliest to a freelancer. An hour or two can rapidly go to six or seven before we can really get back to work. Remember there are meals in there and activities that were planned that are now part of the equation.
“Must be nice to just sit around the house and create.”
Well yes when we can. There is also the house to be maintained, a family that has needs, pets who can’t do for themselves, activities that are attended, a little personal time in there somewhere, and looking for the next job.
That’s a big one. I swear half of freelancing is getting the next gig to keep the money rolling in. We don’t have a steady paycheck so we have to work to continue to work. Connections have to be made. E-mails answered. Proposals handed in. Outlines approved. Contracts negotiated.
Yes, we have time that is flexible but we still need the time to work that is just time to work just like when one goes to one’s job and just does the job.
So there are times that no is the answer to can you do whatever. And it is nothing against the person asking but we need the time to earn our shekels and we need it without having to always explain why we need the time.
I am grateful for all the freelance work that has come our way.
A week ago I held AJ in my arms less than an hour after he came into the world. It seems so recently and yet so much in the past.
A freelance editor I know was at my local brew-pub. He had just finished a very long medical manuscript for a magazine and was getting ready to start work on the next one while trying to find work for the one after that. He specializes in non-fiction mostly of the biological kind. He has a PhD in biochemistry but fell into being an editor and enjoyed that more than fighting for grants for research. He can find work because he does such good work and is really fast.
He was bemoaning that he should have gotten this paper in three days ago but life took over and he had to deal with sick children and dog who is very old but still spry. He doesn’t mind it. He loves how he can be there for his family and watch his children grow up. However, he is getting frustrated with everyone assuming because he is a freelancer, he has lots of free time to do other things that are not his job. Apparently his brother-in-law wanted him to help with some project for his mother-in-law and there was a family kerfuffle when he said no because he had to get the article done.
The assumption that freelancers have time to do things that are not work is one that I have found to be pretty ingrained.
“Oh you can do your job anywhere!”
Not really. Peter’s word count is lower when he is not at home because there are a lot of things that, when he is at home, are non-issues. Yes, there are times that he goes to a convention and gets work done around the convention but that is not the norm. Especially if he is on a deadline to an editor. Also he needs an Internet connection that works and doesn’t cost him an arm and a leg.
“It will just take an hour or two.”
And travel time and whatever else I need to do to get the project done. Those words are the deadliest to a freelancer. An hour or two can rapidly go to six or seven before we can really get back to work. Remember there are meals in there and activities that were planned that are now part of the equation.
“Must be nice to just sit around the house and create.”
Well yes when we can. There is also the house to be maintained, a family that has needs, pets who can’t do for themselves, activities that are attended, a little personal time in there somewhere, and looking for the next job.
That’s a big one. I swear half of freelancing is getting the next gig to keep the money rolling in. We don’t have a steady paycheck so we have to work to continue to work. Connections have to be made. E-mails answered. Proposals handed in. Outlines approved. Contracts negotiated.
Yes, we have time that is flexible but we still need the time to work that is just time to work just like when one goes to one’s job and just does the job.
So there are times that no is the answer to can you do whatever. And it is nothing against the person asking but we need the time to earn our shekels and we need it without having to always explain why we need the time.
I am grateful for all the freelance work that has come our way.
